i have a 2001 dodge ram 1500 5.9L and for the past month it has smelled like anti-freeze...but not until lately has it been so strong. Iv done alot of research and most people say its the heater core. I know how hard it is to do and i have people that could help me. i just need to make sure thats what it is though. cus im not showing any other signs of coolant on my passenger floor board, smoke, or excessivly foggy windows. heard it could be a water pump, so any ideas on what else it could be? just so i dont go fixing the hardest thing first. any input or advise would greatly be appreciated.

 

sounds like the heater core to me. when mine first went i didnt have foggy windows or wet carpet. once it got really bad then the wet carpet and foggy windows showed up. i just replaced my heater core 2 days ago. its really not a hard job. took me about 2-3 hours total...

 

ya, im thinkin i can do it with some buddys, i downloaded the directions off auto-zone and iv had my dash apart b4 for replacing a cracked one. Im just tryin to figure out every possible angle of this. Thanks for your input though, kinda got worried by not seein any of the other symptoms.

 

trust me..doing the heater core is a one man job. there is no room for 2 people until you go to put the dash back in.

 

you could temporarily bypass the heater core for a week or two to see if the smell progressively goes away.

 

how would i go about doing that? and would there be any problems from doing it?

 

go under the hood and pull the hoses off the heater core and connect them together. you wont have any heat until you fix it but your problems will probly go away

 

ya, theres two heater hoses going into the firewall on the passanger side, and unhook them form there, and get a pvc elbow or similar and just connect them together.

 

alright, that sounds do able, gonna have to hurry almost winter here in idaho, and not havin a heater would kinda suck :/

 

bundle up bro. i went through it last winter. core went during the coldest part of the winter here..